[BEAR.]

Contrary to Eagleflight's belief, Lionstar was fine. Perfectly fine. Portraying Fawnsqueak was a performance, a brilliant show-- and he thought he did a damn good job of it.

With three deputies under his paws, he felt invincible. As the might of RiverClan grew, so would his ranks. He had ideas to expand, to make RiverClan stronger than it'd been in the days of Fallowstar herself. And now, he knew he had strong, loyal, dedicated cats he could trust. If Frostfli-- no, he wouldn't think of him as so. Frostflight had died the moment he joined SkyClan and betrayed RiverClan. Frostfall was the cat beneath Lionstar, the constant disappointment he grew to ..barely tolerate. He was sick of his inaction, his slothfulness. Tonight, things would change. For the better.

"Eagleflight," Lionstar's voice was silky smooth as he spoke to his fiery companion, his name rolling off his tongue with practiced ease. "I can't imagine what you must be thinking right now, but let me make this clear: Frostfall is not fit to serve as deputy alone. As simple as it'd be to remove that tick entirely, he has some experience in the position I don't care to dispose of so quickly. I know he's making some attempt of being a capable deputy, he just sucks at it. And that's.. well, it's not fine by any means, but I'm not going to kick him out of the position of deputy for that. I am giving him the opportunity of redemption, and both you and Fawnsqueak are key to that. I cannot run this Clan with someone who can hardly send out patrols and bring them back. There are so many plans I want to set in motion, I want to improve RiverClan's way of life and he has hindered this with his poor decision making skills. That's where you, specifically, come in.

"I have a first task for you to do as deputy. I understand the patrol from SkyClan's old territory has finally returned and reported the area clear, so I want you to send another patrol to lay down scent markers. I want these markers to be heavy, to make it clear that land is ours now. In addition, I want the border to be expanded to take the beach as well. The other Clans don't use it and we can hunt along the shoreline and in the shallow water.

"Once those are underway, I need you to oversee the tunnel expansions. If you are unaware, the tunnels are the old home of the Clans. Many seasons ago we flourished belowground, only for a flood to tear that away and force us to abandon our home. Most of the tunnels have collapsed or are filled with water, but I had Frostfall send a patrol to recover some old entrances and reconstruct them. Ideally, I want to reclaim RiverClan's old camp as a backup shelter-- or part of it, and have a set of tunnels run to each of the other Clans. We can use these networks for a pawful of things: attacks, espionage, .. in the event our Clan needs to escape quickly, we could use these as a route as well. From my understanding, many of the old entrances look like badger burrows or fox dens, but they are long abandoned. Check those out, and do not take volunteers. While it is dangerous, waiting on cats to join your patrol will only waste precious time. Leaf-bare is around the corner and soon, the ground will be too frozen to dig.

"And finally, a special assignment for you. I feel as if our warriors are lacking adept fighting skills, and I would like you to oversee a specialized training course designed to make our warriors stronger. Apprentices can, of course, participate but I feel as if this should be focused on making an elite set of Clan-mates. Strong, powerful warriors who can dominate any enemy on the battlefield and ensure the victory of our Clan. For the purpose of this, I want the training to be intense-- with the final assessment being an actual battle between Clan-mates, claws unsheathed. I want these cats to be battle hardened and prepared for the worst."

Almost affectionately, he flicked his tail against Eagleflight's shoulder. "You will be more than just a deputy, Eagleflight. You will be... my commander. The commander of our warriors, and the future of RiverClan's training."

@Casper